


Punny Business

by itsamagicalplace



Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Genre: F/M, Gen, Post-Season/Series 03 Fix-It, Rebuilding a friendship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-09-08
Updated: 2015-09-08
Packaged: 2018-04-19 18:59:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 694
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4757390
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/itsamagicalplace/pseuds/itsamagicalplace
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Melinda returns to the base, and Coulson wants her help in deciding on the latest in cybernetic limbs.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Punny Business

**Author's Note:**

> This was randomly inspired by this quote from the latest press release:  
> “Coulson may sample a few hands before settling on the right replacement”  
> 

“May?”

Melinda sighed as Coulson called out to her, shaking her head as she slowly returned to her original standing position.

She’d been back on the base for a few days, but the tension that had been there when she left was still lingering, like a constant pressure that tried to throw her off balance each time she thought about it.

Literally.

Even tai-chi was a slight struggle, and as the base wasn’t exactly quiet right now, finding five minutes to try and clear her head wasn’t the easiest option.

“May?”

He called out to her again, and Melinda grabbed her water bottle from the side, taking a swig before she began to walk over to Coulson’s office.

They hadn’t made up properly, not really, but she knew they would need to talk soon, to work out where things had gone so wrong, and where they were to go from here.

As she reached the door, she found it open, and Melinda pushed it open a little more, flickering her gaze across the room to find Coulson sat at his desk, a slightly confused look on his face.

He glanced up to her when he heard the door creak.

“I can’t decide which one to go for,” he frowned, indicating with a nod to the screen in front of him, before turning it so she could see what he was looking at. He flicked through a couple of images on the laptop in front of him for her benefit. “These are the latest in cybernetic hands,” he told her, and Melinda swallowed as she realised he was looking for a replacement to the missing limb. “But it’s whether I want just a general all-purpose hand, or one with a few extra features.”

Melinda watched him, leaning back against the door frame behind her. She could tell he was trying to get things back to how they were, back to normal - if normal was even a possibility in their lives.

“What kind of extra features?” she asked warily, knowing exactly how he was the kind of person to let his imagination run away with him.

“Well,” he paused on an image of a grey hand. “This one is just the basic, it comes with fingers and they bend etc.”

“Mhmm.”

“But this -” he moved onto another image, this time of a black metal hand, complete with electric blue lines splashed across it. “This one is extra strong, and can withstand temperatures of up to 200’C before even beginning to melt.”

“Planning to stick your hand in a fire?” she replied sceptically, taking another drink from her water bottle, before placing it onto the bookshelf to the side of her and crossing her arms.

“Not intentionally,” he shrugged. “But with this job, you never know what’s going to try and kill you.”

They both looked at each other for a moment. They did know. Both of them knew the dangers, the unpredictability, the horrors they could face.

“Or,” he continued lightly, as though trying to draw the conversation back to something more fun. “I could see if Stark would make me one with lazers built in and stuff… that’d be kind of cool.”

“Kind of cool” Melinda repeated, shaking her head slowly. “Not really the number one criteria.”

“No? But it’d be so much fun.”

She raised one eyebrow, and Phil sighed.

“Okay, okay, but I do need your help in choosing one… I need you to -” he paused, shaking his head at her before a smile appeared on his face.

“What?” she asked warily, knowing that look after having spent years recognising it meant something else was coming.

“I was just going to say…” he grinned that lopsided dopey grin at her he used to do so often. “I need you to  _lend me a hand_?”

Melinda couldn’t help it; she fought the smile, hard, but it won.

Shaking her head, she closed the door behind her, and took a few more steps towards him.

There was still a distance between them, but they could work on it.

“Keep using puns like that” she muttered, taking a seat opposite him. “And I’ll kill you myself.”


End file.
